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Your New York Knicks are the 2026 NBA champions. Full stop.

And hey, it was very obvious from the moment the final buzzer sounded inside that sad-for-the-hosts arena in San Antonio, that the thing that mattered the most to everybody in New York City was going outside. Going mad outside.

There will be two banners. There will be a proper parade. There will surely be a whole lot of summer to review and replay and comment on Jalen Brunson’s historic 45-point Game 5 masterpiece.

Now, though? Now it’s the New Yorkers who stuck around for 53 years who are getting all the spotlight they too deserve.

You know why? Cause before Game 5 tipped off on Saturday evening, the Knicks were -500 to win the series on FanDuel. That’s cool! But you know what and why, too? The damn oddsmakers had the Knicks as the underdogs at +172 to close it out in San Antonio, as 5.5-point underdogs. To hell with that, fam.

New York beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90, finishing the Finals in five games and ending a five-decade-plus championship drought. Brunson won Finals MVP after scoring 45 points in the clincher. The damn Knicks did it again and came back from a 16-point deficit on the road, in a closeout game. What’s not to love!?

The NBA showed Knicks fans celebrating in Central Park as the title became a reality.

SNY posted a video showing a damn pack of Knicks fans celebrating in unison the first title most of them have ever witnessed.

Nets fans might not be many. After seeing this, however, it’s unclear if the franchise will relocate again, and not just from New Jersey to Brooklyn…

Right after the game and during Josh Hart’s presser, James Dolan briefly interrupted the Knickerbocker to send a message to the New York masses. “Stay safe out there,” he said. Good luck with that! (But stay safe out there, fam)

ABC7NY captured fans celebrating after Game 5, with New York City finally getting to release everything that had been eating them since 1973.

Breaking911 posted the Times Square scene, which looked like every Knicks fan in the city had agreed to meet in the same spot to lose their minds collectively.

NBC Sports went bigger, posting every borough going crazy after the Knicks’ championship.

CBS wasn’t lucky avoiding F-bombs, with a fan out of her mind making it clear what she was feeling, and the reporter nearly collapsing live in reaction to the best statement ever.

Acyn shared aerial footage of New Yorkers celebrating on fire escapes, balconies, and pretty much every available surface.

Another Acyn clip showed CNN footage of traffic stopping, fans getting out of cars, climbing on roofs, and partying in the streets.

Speaking of CNN, God bless their on-location reporter after he was slowly but surely devoured by a ravenous Knicks crowd.

WFAN posted fireworks going off in the streets, because what’s a Knicks celebration without fans gambling on their physical integrity?

Want a classic? Your light-pole climbers didn’t lose any time going for it.

Want some hope as a hapless New York Jets or New York Mets fan, as I am? The Knicks’ victory might already be breeding a new generation of banana/football/baseball throwers!

And finally, as a Euro myself, I couldn’t drop a tear listening to the most-used title song on the continent blaring inside Radio City Music Hall.

I wouldn’t blame if you don’t read this or anything we post for the next two days or all the way until the parade takes place on Thursday.

Go outside. Join your fellow Knicks fans. Turn stupid. Y’all deserve anything and everything that is happening right now.

Your damn New York Knicks are the 2026 NBA champions.

The NBA Finals have officially wrapped up, and the New York Knicks are NBA champions once again.

After a 53-year drought, and a total of 19,312 days since the Knicks last hoisted the trophy, they can do it now. The city that never sleeps will certainly not rest after this historic playoff run. With only three losses and two series sweeps, the NBA has crowned them champions, and for the third time in four years, a former Kentucky Wildcat will add a ring to their finger and an NBA title to their personal biography

This year, following Jamal Murray in 2023, and Cason Wallace and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in 2025, Karl-Anthony Towns is officially an NBA champion. Towns averaged 13 PPG, 10.6 RPG, and played a huge role in slowing down what seemed to be an unstoppable force in Victor Wembanyama.

After the finish that nobody wants to speak of at Kentucky, KAT is finally able to get at least a little bit of the monkey off his back and is now a champion.

During the postgame celebration with Ernie Johnson, Towns had some words to share with the world about the Knicks’ big-time accomplishment.

“You know, you work your whole life for this moment. Throughout my career, I’ve seen myself fall down, people tell me to stay down, and I got back up. Even when I was in the mud, and I kept putting my left foot in front of my right foot. I kept trusting God, I kept trusting my faith, I kept trusting the work.” Towns shared with TNT’s Ernie Johnson.

KAT also shared on ESPN during postgame coverage, “It is written. This was written for New York, and we went and got it done today, and it’s because of all the brothers here, all the fans — Y’all heard my story, y’all know my story, and I just want to say, Thank you, Momma, I appreciate you getting me one.”

Check out the postgame clip below.

Karl-Anthony Towns has always been a fan favorite for Kentucky fans. He played for one of the most loved teams in program history, the 2014-2015 Kentucky Wildcats, which nearly had the greatest season any team has ever had at the college level. Towns has always had that infectious smile and endless joy that always seem to make people love him.

Towns tragically lost his mother in 2020 due to complications of COVID-19, which was very hard on their family and loved ones and still is. So, it was only right that on the big stage on this night, he would bring up his late mother and mention her at the peak of his playing career.

From being traded away from the team that drafted him No. 1 in 2015, to an NBA champion, it’s quite the roller coaster ride. Hats off to you, NBA champion, Karl-Anthony Towns!

Thomas Bryant, fresh off a trip to the NBA Finals with Indiana, was meant to provide additional depth to the Cleveland Cavaliers frontcourt. He fell just short of that goal, but the underlying issue might have been outside of his control.

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.

Regular Season Stats

• 6.2 points
• 3.4 rebounds
• 0.6 assists
• 50.6% FG
• 35.9% 3PT FG
• 80.3% FT

Bryant’s fit in Cleveland seemed straightforward. He’s a 6’9” center who plays with strength and physicality. He can also space the floor, knocking down 34% of his career three-point attempts. Bryant should have fit nicely with either Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen.

This didn’t translate to the real world. Bryant mostly clogged things up offensively and his lack of defensive mobility was jarring when placed on a Cavalier team that wasn’t equipped to defend around him. Cleveland was in the 36th percentile for defensive rating when Bryant was alone at center (no Mobley or Allen).

Bryant can be a passable defender when he’s on a team that’s loaded full of versatile and switchable wings. A defense that can contain the perimeter and limit dribble penetration is one that Bryant can slot into as a big who protects the paint. Cleveland was missing that all season. Their point-of-attack defense was shoddy, at best. Often leaving Bryant stuck in space, trying to cover gaps that are outside of his pay range.

Then on offense, a dynamic game plan that’s predicated on ball movement is the type of system that Bryant fits in. Indiana exemplified this. The Cavs did not. Especially in the back half of the season, when stationary spacing became their motto. That style doesn’t work with Bryant.

For this, I think we can conclude that Bryant’s fit in Cleveland was never as good as it might have looked on paper. The Cavs, in my opinion, need to find an athletic forward who can create plays off the dribble to pair with either Mobley or Allen. That’s to say, Bryant’s archetype is not the one this team was missing. I think that context is important when evaluating a role player who underwhelmed.

Bryant’s best moments came when his three-point shot was falling, or when he was stirring the crowd into a frenzy by celebrating like a maniac whenever anything remotely positive happened. His energy was infectious, and you can’t say the man didn’t care about winning. He played every game with an intensity that was unfortunately not always matched by his teammates, particularly in the first half of the season.

Grade: C+

With the New York Knicks having won the 2026 NBA championship Saturday night, it’s a good time to look back at one of the great stars from the last Knicks teams to win a championship, Earl “the Pearl” Monroe.

Monroe played college basketball for Clarence “Bighouse” Gaines at Winston-Salem State in the early 1960s, in the waning days of segregation. Wake Forest assistant coach Billy Packer, despite being warned not to, went over to Whitaker Gymnasium, and Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum (now Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum) when Monroe began drawing bigger crowds. He found Monroe mesmerizing.

Monroe was then drafted by the Baltimore Bullets in 1967, where he became a sensation. However, they traded him to the Knicks in 1971, and in 1973, the Knicks won their second NBA title, with the first having come in 1970.

Monroe dazzled the league with what for his day was an astonishing bag of tricks. He may look somewhat dated now, but he was a brilliant force for the Knicks.

He played for New York until he retired in 1980.

He was an extraordinary talent, and more so because he played for his entire career with significant arthritis in his knees. Monroe has had dozens of surgeries, and the last time we saw him make a public appearance, he was using forearm crutches.

This video asks how good was he? Well, as you’ll see, he was brilliant.

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Welcome back to the third edition of the Mock Draft Dive, where we’re looking at who draft pundits predict the Celtics to take in the upcoming draft. 

We are less than two weeks out from the draft, and with Giannis rumors swirling and the Finals close to their conclusion, everything feels up in the air. Do the Celtics even stand pat at No. 27? It’s a divisive question, and one we’ve pretty much experienced on an annual basis since Brad Stevens took over team-building decision-making.  

But what’s a mock draft dive without a pick to talk about? Let’s just all embrace the hypothetical for now. First we looked at the prospects of selecting Karim Lopez (which is seeming more unlikely with each passing week), then Arizona’s Koa Peat (that still feels possible). Now, we turn to the faux-front office decision of selecting Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson based on a mock from Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. 

Here’s what Sam had to say about the selection: 

As far as non-lottery prospects go, Jefferson was pretty high up there for one of my favorite scouting reports to build. And dogonnit (I’m not allowed to swear on the blog, but imagine I’m swearing), the fit makes a good deal of sense. 

A passing maestro with a well-rounded game, what Jefferson lacks in top-tier athletic traits he makes up for with a high IQ and an unselfish play style. At 22 years old and with 130 college games under his belt, Jefferson closed his second season at Iowa State averaging 16 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists on the way to All-American and All-Big 12 honors. 

The Iowa State star’s passing is the obvious focal point of his game, translating into his post-ups, off-the-dribble kickouts and transition outlets. His touch is impeccable, and his vision among the very best in this class, if not the best in the class. 

I wish I could properly explain just how instinctual his playmaking is. Arguably the most entertaining thing about watching Jefferson no-look a pass to a cutter is not actually the play itself, but what comes immediately after: the opponent’s sluggish reaction. 

Watch a highlight reel and count how many times you see a group of defenders crowding the paint physically melt into their shoes as they stare at an uncontested layup that snuck right past them. 

Imagine thinking you have all the bases covered. Everyone’s communicating, shifting to the ball, closing off passing lanes. Maybe you send help on the ball to ramp up pressure as the shot clock dwindles. Yeah, maybe they get a shot off, but it won’t be a good one, and then, in less than a second, the ball hits Jefferson’s hands and is instantly re-routed into unaccounted space. 

How defeating. 

As the central figure to head coach T.J. Otzelberger’s offense, Jefferson made the lives of his teammates so much easier. There are great post passers out there, there are forwards that can run a delay action and hit cutters from the top of the arc, and there are fast break kick-starters that can push the ball ahead. Jefferson did all of that, all the time, in every game I watched. 

For the Celtics specifically, I’m imagining that passing impact coming as a short-roll threat, something the Celtics lost a bit of after their free agency overhaul last summer. 

The Celtics aren’t just looking for a playmaking forward though. It’s Jefferson’s calling card, but what about the rest of his offense? 

As a shooter, he’s clearly been putting in the work to grow that part of his game, and his confidence doesn’t appear to be a significant issue, but there are big questions about how much of a threat he is as an outside shooter. 

Jefferson attempted 110 3-pointers this past season after just 147 attempts across his first three years in college, and he was just okay. He shot 34.5% from deep, largely coming out of pick-and-pops. Those are the threes you want to see Jefferson look comfortable shooting. 

If he can pick-and-pop, and a defense has to respect it, that only makes things easier when he’s looking to keep the ball moving. 

But the shot has to be respected. And at the moment, I can’t imagine a defense putting too much attention towards a hard closeout. 

Beyond his outside shooting, Jefferson loves to get into a post-up, but the way he sets up shop actually makes it a more reasonable transition into the NBA game, even if it’s not something you’d see a ton of as his usage and volume gets significantly cut down.

He’s not a “take it on the block and clear out” kind of player. He’s capable of working his way into the paint with a live dribble, and he’s generally quick to make a decision of attacking through the defender with intent to score or pushing the ball back out to a shooter. 

On defense, Jefferson is a good rebounder and a capable shot-blocker, but his lack of vertical pop certainly hurts his chances of being a high-level rim protector. 

A lot of his best interior defense came in help situations, finishing the play by swooping in for a swat attempt. Tasked with defending a back-down big, he’s probably not going to deter too many rim attempts. 

Iowa State often utilized him as a help defender, taking advantage of non-shooters left in the corner, but in pick-and-roll coverages, it was a lot of hedges and drops, both of which he was adept at without giving up advantages. While he doesn’t play too high above the ground, he does move his feet well when dropping back. 

He anticipates passes well when roaming, and is a disciplined straight-up shot-contestor, so he should be at the very least a serviceable power forward option, but it does pose an interesting question of how he fits in Boston on that end. 

In their current form, the Celtics preferred Neemias Queta to be the roamer protecting the rim, and in an ideal world, a switchable power forward would take the brunt of the interior ball-stopping to buy time for Queta to provide shot-blocking reinforcements. 

Jefferson is sort of like if the versatility of Kyle Anderson was placed in a more traditional power forward form. He has one elite skill in his playmaking, a few quality skills in his post scoring and help defense, and some question marks in his outside shooting and athletic makeup. 

One of the draft’s older prospects, he offers a high floor for early rotation opportunities, which works for the Celtics if they’re opting for an “improve on the fringes” offseason philosophy. 

Consider me on-board with the pick if that’s the route they ultimately go.  

Where do you stand on Jefferson as a possible Celtics selection?